It may be just the fact that it’s a centenary celebration that has generated the extra interest in International Women’s Day this year. Or maybe it’s because this is not panning out to be a very good year for women, at home or overseas, and today seems like an opportune moment to do something about it and make our voices heard.

The ETUC issued a press release today with a summary of the findings of a recent survey. In short, the survey found that women in Europe are bearing the brunt of economic crisis. Both the quality and quantity of women’s work is dwindling by the day. Women are increasingly facing redundancy and unemployment. Those who are in work are more likely to be in precarious, vulnerable, and agency work.

John Monks, ETUC General Secretary, said of the survey findings,

“There is an urgent need to look at the gender dimension of the economic crisis and to adopt measures that will strengthen the position of women in the labour market. Female employment has been an important element of Europe’s growth in the last years and policy measures to contrast the damages generated by the economic crisis should aim at reinforcing equality between women and men and not
exacerbate gender segmentation of the labour market”

The ETUC press release echoes a report from the ITUC this week which shows that, although the initial impact of the global economic crisis hit men and women equally hard, the balance is now shifting as increasing numbers of women are either losing their jobs or being forced into more precarious, temporary, and informal work.

The ITUC report points to the swelling ranks of the “working poor” – those, mainly women, who are in work but whose jobs don’t provide enough to meet their basic needs.

And let’s not kid ourselves that these reports are just about women in some far flung corner of the globe Both the ETUC survey and the ITUC report paint an accurate picture of the situation faced by women in the UK.

Unemployment, underemployment, and precarious, poor quality, low paid work are increasingly characteristic of women’s work here too. As the public sector loses more (predominantly women’s) jobs with every day that goes by, the chances are that women’s unemployment – in particular, young women’s unemployment – is only going to get worse.

There will be more from the TUC this week on women and unemployment so watch this space.

We’ve come a long way in 100 years but there’s a long way still to go.

Written by Scarlet Harris

Scarlet is the TUC’s Women’s Equality Officer based in the Equality and Employment Rights Department. She joined the organisation in 2009 and works on policy issues such as maternity rights; representation of women in unions; occupational …

One Response to International Women’s Day

With International Womens day this week, are the TUC aware that Amicus/Unite refused to back the following.Please bear in mind as you read the story the following.

The Saudi Embassies in London and Washington, USA have made the following statement.

“There is no requirement for females to walk behind the men in Saudi nor for Western women to be required to wear the abaya, there is only a requirement for women to dress conservatively.”

Also, In a letter from Buckingham Palace, it was stated that the Queen had taken “careful note” of the details of my case .

With the above in mind please consider the following on going situation.

The British Airline BMI, The British Trade Union Amicus / Unite and The British Tribunal led by Judge Robertson have agreed that it is reasonable, acceptable, and indeed now lawful, (set by precedent in my case), for a British company to demand upon its non-Muslim female workforce, that they must walk behind their male colleagues irrespective of rank, don the full length Islamic abaya and at the same time remove any outward sign of being a Christian, such as a crucifix.

This matter is now being discussed at Cabinet level and although not widely reported has caused questions to be asked in European Parliament with the commission stating they “sharing my concerns”

Do the TUC consider International Womans day an opportunity to appear to be “PC” or actually something worth actually fighting for, we wait with baited breath?